


I really can't stay

by ElasticElla



Series: drabble the halls [5]
Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: F/F, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 02:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9102118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Eve asks Annalise to come to New York for New Years.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shaloved30](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaloved30/gifts).



> title & tone from baby it's cold outside

Annalise is making up exam questions when the email comes in. It's work she usually pushes off to Bonnie, but she wanted to do something simple tonight, and she supposes it is their final. Once upon a time that carried some weight. (Dead weight never eases, nailed down to her shadow.)

**9:47pm erothlo@gmail.com NY for New Years?**

She doesn't click it open, drops the mouse and goes for the vodka instead. 

In the morning she discovers twenty different questions for a three essay test and supposes there definitely won't be any cheating this year. (Her laptop is shut tight against temptation; she doesn't need it for hours anyways.)

.

A few days later finds Annalise grading finals, and a new email pops up. She isn't surprised to see who it's from, Eve always had good timing and symmetry. 

**11:12pm erothlo@gmail.com It's Just a Vacation, I Promise**

With a defeated smile, Annalise reads the email. It's short, short even by Eve's standards. 

_& you should really open the last email I sent you xoxo_

She turns back to her grading with a sigh- Eve really knows her too well. It had been almost threatening when they were younger, the random white girl in torts who she barely traded more than a sentence with per day, gauging her moods flawlessly. She'll open up the email once she's done grading, Annalise decides, picking her red pen back up. 

It's not until the grading is done, she's taken a shower, relocated her laptop into her bedroom, and gotten ready for bed that Annalise opens it. Her stomach is spinning, anxiety curling in on itself, as her cursor hovers over the _NY for New Years?_ It's illogical, she knows that- Eve is good about using subject lines so that she'll open her emails in a more timely manner, and she knows she _wants_ to read whatever Eve wrote her. It's just her stomach is still queasy, and with blood rushing to her ears, she clicks. 

There's a naked photograph of Eve, tangled up in multicolored Christmas lights, and Annalise bursts out laughing. Below it reads: _since you didn't understand why all the twinks were doing it ;)_

Annalise shuts her laptop lightly, pushes it to the other half of the bed, still chuckling. (She has to laugh, the alternative is to jump on a plane and be in Eve's arms tonight.)

.

**7:26am erothlo@gmail.com Last One on the Subject**

Annalise wakes up to a new email, symmetry lost but timing perfect, early enough in the morning that she opens it without hesitation. 

_I'd really love if you came out here but I understand if you can't or don't want to. I'm not going to give you some ultimatum (besides sounding grinch-y we both know I'd lose), just think about the two of us with no stress or work. It'll be like our second spring break, with fewer illegal substances. No matter what, I love you._

Annalise buys a ticket. 

.

Eve's mouth falls open when she sees Annalise on her doorstep, and she smirks, pushing down a few stray nerves. “You didn't send me an email canceling did you?” 

Eve pulls her in by her jacket, a hurried kiss on her lips, “I'm so glad you came. I thought…” 

Annalise pulls her suitcase over the doorstep, “You can't get rid of me that easily.” 

Eve laughs, brushing right past their history, takes her suitcase in one hand and Annalise's in the other. “So how long do I get to keep you?” 

“Until Bonnie calls saying the office is on fire,” she deadpans. 

Eve grins, “I might just steal your phone then.” 

Annalise can't joke back, will have too much sincerity in her voice. So she squeezes Eve's hand instead, and asks for the grand tour. 

.

New York is sleeping in, only drinking champagne, and more sex than she's had since she was in college. It's a perfect vacation, and Annalise has to treat it like that, can't start imagining living here. 

She can't stay. (If she thinks it enough times, she may start to believe it.)  
.

The email pings when the plane touches down, and Annalise can't open it. There's no way she won't be back in New York before nightfall if she does and she has work to do. (The more she says it to herself, the more it sounds like a bad excuse.)

Annalise looks at it once the new semester's syllabi are updated, the idea of Eve's correspondence bouncing around her head the whole time. She wonders if it'll be another message that makes her pack her bags, she only needs to add her toiletries, the rest still in her suitcase. 

There's the picture of them from New Years, the one she had her neighbors take, not the posed one, a candid from before or after. She's caught mid-laugh, and Eve is glowing, a wide smile on her lips. Lights are twinkling around them, and it's hard to believe this was her life only a few short days ago.

_I tucked a key into your suitcase. You don't have to use it, but it's yours._

Annalise can't- she rushes up the stairs and opens up the suitcase. A small copper key is on top of her favorite blouse, and she palms it quickly, the weight cold and real. New York wasn't a passing fantasy any more. 

She sends back just one word: _yes_.


End file.
